


Changing Destination on Road Trip

by mysticaljayne



Series: SuperCharmed: Spin City-AU [2]
Category: Charmed (TV 1998), Supernatural
Genre: Charmed Episode Spin City, F/M, Gen, Supernatural Episode Road Trip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-10-04 13:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17305442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysticaljayne/pseuds/mysticaljayne
Summary: Dean is about to take off after Gadreel and Sam is going to let them when they get a surprise visitor in The Bunker.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you recognize it, the chances are that it's not mine.

Castiel reaches out a hand to wave it just above Sam’s still healing wounds. Getting away from Crowley and back to the bunker had been their priority. With all the other angels now on Earth, there was no way of telling who could be close enough to sense any kind of angelic power. The bunker was safe, for now.

 

“You feel better?” Castiel asked the younger Winchester. His time with them had proven one thing more than anything else, humans are exceedingly fragile. While it was a miracle that he had survived, Sam’s wounds weren’t something he could heal all at once. At least no while he was in the state that he himself was now in.

 

Sam, still looking a bit daze after everything, responds without the usual focus that Castiel has come to expect. “A little, yeah.”

 

But not enough. Gadreel had been keeping Sam alive, but just. The trauma the man just went through with Crowley having to possess him and then the both having to push Gadreel on out? It’ll take time. Time that they really don’t have. “It’ll take time to fully heal you.” Castiel feels…regret at that. Regret over a lot of things, but not being able to completely heal someone? Someone that he cares for? That hurts in a way that he never wanted to know. “We’ll have to do it in stages.”

 

This time Sam nods but looks away to where Dean had gone off to the side. Guilty. At least, Dean was feeling that way. Sometimes…a great too many times, people do the wrong thing thinking that it is the right. That’s the problem with choice.

 

Even with there being a good side to it as well.

 

“All right.” Dean is the one to break the silence and Castiel walks far enough to be within listening distance for an angel, but respectful for a human. “Let me hear it.”

 

“What do you want me to say?” Sam answers back, the passion lacking where the words should be. “That I’m pissed?” Dean won’t look at his brother. “Okay. I am. I’m pissed.”

 

The words don’t match the tone that Castiel has come to expect of such a statement. Usually the fights between the two brothers were just…more. More than this.

 

Both look defeated by their decisions. Dean at asking for that…that traitor to save Sam. And Sam? Sam for having been betrayed again. When he’d been human, would Castiel have done the same thing? Would he do it now?

 

Dean did it for the right reasons. Sometimes that’s all that can be asked of anyone.

 

“You lied to me. Again.” Sam finished, looking just as defeated as earlier. Dean though…Dean looked as if Sam had decided to destroy everything.

 

Slowly Dean looks back up from where he’d been pulling inside of himself. “I didn’t have a choice.” In a way, the elder Winchester didn’t.

 

That’s what older siblings, at least Dean Winchester, did. They took care of their younger sibling. They cared…That’s what makes humans so special. They can make so many mistakes, but they have the capability of truly caring. They both care for each other, and for the people that they’ve let in.

 

The emotion when they had sent Castiel away? That hadn’t been a pleasant one.

 

Sam stands up from his chair to better get in Dean’s face. “I was ready to die, Dean!” The chair crashes to the floor and silence reigns for a few moments after Sam’s outburst.

 

Silent enough for Castiel to faintly make out the sound of jingling bells. The angel knows those sounds but hasn’t heard them in a long time. Very rarely do Heavenly Angels cross paths with White-Lighters. Each occupy a different segment of the heavens for a reason.

 

Heavenly Angels do God’s bidding, while While-Lighters still contain choice from their days as humans walking the Earth.

 

“I know. But I wouldn’t let you, because that’s not in me.” Castiel hears Dean’s words but focuses in on where he could potentially be hearing the orbing sound. There couldn’t be too many places for a White-Lighter to willingly go, unless it is to go to a Charge. While not as powerful as Heavenly Beings, more stories have passed through the cracks of just how insanely far a White-Lighter would be willing to go to save a Charge.

 

“So, what?” Sam is still yelling and Castiel loses the sound for a moment before hearing it get louder. “You decide to trick me into being possessed by some psycho angel?”

 

“He saved your life.” Dean counters. Castiel tilts his head to the side as infinite reasons start to line up in his mind along with many questions. The White-Lighter must have sensed him. With all the clashes between the groups and lines that had been drawn for millennia between them, the White-Lighter must know to avoid anyone with Grace.

 

“I was willing to die.” Sam’s voice drops down a bit and Castiel feels a flash of someone other than the Winchesters nearby. A White-Lighter, but not complete. A child of the Earth. Blessed. Twice-Blessed.

 

A prophecy.

 

“And now…Kevin.” Sam keeps talking and Castiel’s more ‘human’ side aches at the pain he hears in his voice. Now, though. Now isn’t the time.

 

Castiel hadn’t told the Winchester’s about the day without magic. He hadn’t needed to, then. That prophecy was for something far out of their reach and in another’s hands.

 

“No. That is not on you. Kevin’s blood is on my hands, and that’s never getting clean.” Dean sounds just as hurt as Sam, and another puzzle piece flits into place. How did the White-Lighter know how to get through the wards? How did they even know where the bunker was?

 

“Dean.” Castiel says the name, trying to get the arguing men’s attention without raising his voice to loudly.

 

“I’ll burn for that. I will. But I’ll find Gadreel and I will end that son…”

 

“Dean!” Castiel raises his voice just a notch louder and comes closer to the two men.

 

“What?” Sam is the one to ask and Castiel nods at a place not far in front of them.

 

Bright lights, orbs, are coming together into the form of a dark-haired man. A man who looks at them with a flash of recognition before flinching and putting his hand on his neck where fresh scratches could just be seen. Injured.

 

At least that would explain why the White-Lighter would come here, even with the threat of an uncontrolled Heavenly Angel nearby.

 

Both Winchesters pull out guns and Castiel focuses in on the man before him. He is too old to be the one from the prophecy. Could there be any more half’s existing than Castiel knew of? Nephilims, even ones that come from changed humans, were more powerful than could be controlled.

 

“What are you?” Dean asks the question, but it’s one that Castiel wonders as well even as he knows the answer.

 

This being standing before them shouldn’t exist. White-Lighters aren’t supposed to be with their Charges for a reason. Similarly, Angels aren’t to mingle with humans in such manner. The Giants of Old could only have been destroyed by flooding the entire Earth. Even so, a few of them survived to wreak havoc from time to time.

 

The man barely flinches, but Castiel has been around the Winchesters long enough to recognize that look. He recognizes the three of them, but they don’t recognize him.

 

Future.

 

Castiel tilts his head back up, one puzzle solved but more on the table to be completed. “A white-lighter but not.” The man tilts his head up a bit, his face hardening into a mask that has Castiel know that he was correct. “You aren’t supposed to exist.” His eyes don’t stray from Castiel and he looks one step away from disappearing. “In this time or yours.” Forced relaxation.

 

A Nephilim out of Time. Whatever Future this being came from, it must have been a bad one for him to go through all the trouble, and gather all the power he needed, to travel back to stop.


	2. Chapter 2

“In this time or yours.” Cas said the words and Sam unconsciously tightened his hold on his weapon. They had enough problems without adding something that shouldn’t exist into the equation.

 

What is he thinking? They’ve been dealing with the ‘not real’ stuff for as long as he can remember. What’s another creature that no one has ever heard of? Or shouldn’t be possible?

 

The brunette keeps his hands out to his sides in as non-threatening manner as possible. If the creature had been human, Sam might’ve believed the body language. Considering the kind of beings they’ve ran across no too long ago? And how he himself was still healing? And how the creature appeared? Yeah, no.

 

“My parents weren’t a fan of that rule.” The brunette’s there and gone smile made him think for a moment about Dean telling the truth at the psych ward. There’s more to the story, but not a complete lie. Sam tracks how the creature wipe his hand on his pants. “Sorry for crashing guys,” he holds up the now clean hands that Sam knows had spiderwebbing on one, “I’ll just be…”

 

“Cas?” Dean calls for information and Sam stiffen at his brother’s voice. Their argument from earlier is far from over. Dean doesn’t have the right to take away someone’s choice. He’d been willing to die.

 

“He is not evil.” Cas’s words should be reassuring, but really aren’t. Sam just had a demon possess him to make him aware of an angel using him as host, with the demon being the ‘good guy’ for once. “His soul is bright and shining. He is a powerful force for good.”

 

Powerful force Sam can believe. Good? That’s a debate for another time. What’s really good in this world where demons help and angels slaughter? Nothing is inherently good by what it is. Or evil.

 

“That’s not exactly reassuring, Cas.” Dean says the words and Sam agrees completely with his brother. The thing is…even after all this time Dean still sees the supernatural beings as something different than human.

 

While the being in front of them appeared in lights and Cas labeled as a white-lighter (which Sam is definitely going to be looking up as soon as he leaves), the way he looked at everyone but Dean and minutely flinched… “Who are you?” Sam asks the words that a younger him would have asked a lot earlier.

 

A lot earlier from a time before demons crawled their way out of hell and angels fell from the sky.

 

He doesn’t even want to know what his dad would have thought of all of this.

 

Silence stretches on for longer than Sam would think such a question should take. The man looks between each of them, looking for something that Sam couldn’t say. There’s knowledge there. The brunette doesn’t look afraid but more as if trying to decide on something that could affect a lot of people.

 

If what Cas says is true, the man comes from a different time. The man looks at them with a calculating look, but also longing. Whatever will happen in the future, he definitely knows them more than as passing strangers.

 

The man tilts his head slightly up and hold his hands even further out. “Chris.” The man is defiant, as if daring them to interrupt or judge. “You don’t know me. Not yet.” The hands that are being held out shake just a bit before he curls them into fists. “But you will, in the future.”

 

Fists…Sam is really hoping that he hasn’t been reading this wrong and future them didn’t wipe out the white-lighters family or whatever. The bullets in their guns should slow them down. Should if a white-lighter is anything like the older types of beings they used to cross paths with.

 

But considering their life lately? Yeah. Not likely.

 

“Future?” Dean says the word as if he couldn’t believe it. But considering everything they’ve ran across, how could they be surprised anymore?

 

The white-lighter glances over at Dean before quickly turning his head and attention back to Castiel. His entire body language changes in the split moment from indecision and defiance to something more like the angels they’ve ran across would do before delivering some important message. Usually more like a demand.

 

“My Charges need help.” The white-lighter gives the information as though they all should know exactly what he’s talking about. Sam glances out of the corner of his eye to see Cas tilt his head to the side. At least one of them knows what’s going on.

 

“And you need the Winchesters help.” Cas said the statement before tilting his head back up. The angel was looking all the more like a puppy that had just found a new and interesting toy to play with. “Your side never comes to ours.” Or more like a dog that’s just found a snake and trying to decide just how poisonous the thing was.

 

Wait…side? “Side? Cas, what are you…?”

 

“Who are your Charges?” Castiel interrupts the question and doesn’t move from his staring contest with the stranger. It was as if he’d already made the decision without them. Though…after everything that had been done…

 

“The Charmed Ones.” The white-lighter answers yet again as if what he’s saying should be common knowledge. Sam looks over to Dean just to check if maybe, while he’d been under an angel’s influence, they had learned something new.

 

Nope. Now he had something else to go hunting for information about. White-lighter. Charges. Charmed Ones.

 

“What?” Dean blurts out and Sam goes ahead and lowers his gun. They were going to end up helping these creatures, whatever they are.

 

At least Cas seems as if he’s already made up his mind about the stranger that appeared in bright lights.

 

“Charmed Ones.” The white-lighter repeats the information again, as if that will suddenly explain everything. “One of them is out of commission, and they need some back up.”

 

That… would explain why a creature would go seeking help. But looking for the Winchesters after everything that has been happening the last few years? Most supernatural creatures know to avoid hunters for a reason. Especially Sam and Dean Winchester.

 

“Injured?” Dean asks and Sam just catches the way that the man starts to roll his eyes before stopping.

 

“No.” The white-lighter shook his head. “Pregnant.” He slightly tilts his head and looks at a point just above Castiel’s head. “I have to get one.” He shakes his head as if hearing someone that the rest of them couldn’t. “Thanks for the help if you, uh, do show up.” The white-lighter looks on edge again, as if waiting for an attack to come. “The address is 1329 Prescott Street, San Francisco. Shouldn’t be more than a day’s drive, less with angel power.”

 

The bright lights are the only warning they had before he was gone.

 

Sam and Dean both look over to Castiel, who is still looking at the spot where the creature stood just a few moments ago. He soon enough looks to the both of them, as though waiting to see who will be the first to break the silence.

 

“Angel power?” ‘Course it was Dean.


	3. Chapter 3

Dean looks to Castiel for information or confirmation, he’s not sure anymore. He glances over to where Sam looks ready to run to the books for more information about the being that had just been there. They had so much that they had to do…were they really going to go down this path?

 

“What are the Charmed Ones?” Sam asks, looking more tired than Dean remembers his baby brother ever looking. At least he was alive, and that is what Dean will always believe. As long as Sam is safe, everything else can go to hell.

 

Both literally and figuratively.

 

Castiel turns to look at them as if just now noticing them there. “The most powerful good witches to have been born in centuries. There have been rumors of their coming, and of their inability to be controlled.”

 

Dean didn’t even bother holding in his snort there. While he has learned over the years that not all witches were evil, but the comment about controlled was something that he’d heard about him and his brother enough times over the years. “Then why haven’t we heard of them before now?” Dean also couldn’t hold back the judgement there. If these witches were so powerful, why weren’t they trying to save the world like they were?

 

“The Sides.” Castiel answers in a monotone, still staring at a point in space. “White-Lighters never come to us for help, and we never go to them.”

 

“Seriously, Cas??” Dean bites out. “What does that…”

 

“White-Lighters are angels that come from human souls.” Castiel’s voice lowers, the monotone leaving in that moment. “They retain choice while we do not.”

 

Sam interrupts this time, though. “But we are helping, right?”

 

“No, Sam, it’s…”

 

“Yes.” Castiel speaks over Dean, which stops the hunter midsentence to look at the angel with an incredulous look. “The amount of power to travel back…And to ask for help? The witch-lighter must be desperate. If you two wish not to help them, I understand, but I cannot turn from his plea.”

 

Sam has leaned on a table by the time Dean glances back over to his brother. The younger hunter still looks angry, but determination is there that hadn’t been there before. “You said the Charmed Ones are the most powerful witches for good?” Sam asks, looking a bit pale.

 

“Yes.” Castiel answers in as matter-of-fact tone as possible. “They aren’t subject to the rules that Angels must follow, but whatever their council has determined.”

 

“Council?” Dean questioned, eyes disbelieving.

 

Cas merely nods in verification. “Yes. Council. The white-lighters created one centuries ago. Last I heard, they were calling themselves Elders.”

 

“Wait a moment here.” Dean lifts his hands in the air as Sam pushes himself to complete standing and Castiel looks like he’s trying to figure out the logistics of something. “You think we should go help a strange angel when we already have others gunning for us?”

 

“We need allies, Dean.” Sam is the one that answers, pulling down a book that Dean would swear looked like it was glowing. “You’re the one that brought me back to the fight, remember?”

 

Castiel’s eyes suddenly focus back in. “White-lighters are also known for their healing ability.” The two hunters pause as Castiel looks back and forth between them. “If we help them, they may be able to heal Sam. My Grace.” Here the angel shakes his head in annoyance. “It is not strong enough to heal the wounds at once.”

 

Sam waves for the two men to come to where he had eventually given up on standing to sit at the table. “This book said something about lower ranking angels that can teleport in globes of light and being able to move other people and objects with their ability.”

 

“Orbing, and not lower ranking.” Castiel corrects, moving around the room in an effort to stop himself from lashing out at how _weak_ he was now. “Just different.”

 

Dean sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. “If we’re to get to San Francisco soon, we need to have already been moving. It’s a long drive there.”

 

Sam glared at his older brother before moving to grab a bag to stuff the book and another one with a title about witches on the cover. He can do some research while Dean drives. A bit like old times in a world that was completely different than the one that their dad raised them to fight in.

 

Dean goes into his room to grab a bag and Sam takes the moment to really look at the angel that had been at their side through so much of this mess. Castiel looked determine in a way that Sam didn’t remember seeing from him before. “You were willing to help as soon as the kid asked.” Cas looked over at the younger hunter in a look of assessment. “Why?”

 

Castiel turned away to look off into the distance. “Many reasons. White-lighters should be able to heal your wounds.”

 

Sam shook his head, setting the bag down until he absolutely needed to pick it up again. “What else, Cas? You…”

 

“Ready to go?” Dean jumped in, throwing his bag of clothes and weapons on the table to look between the angel and his brother.

 

Castiel is the first to lead the way to the impala, the hunters not trailing far behind.


	4. Chapter 4

Roads pass in a blur as the two brothers and Castiel race to beat a clock that none of them know the time to. The white-lighter came for help, but how much time did they have?

 

“1329 Prescott Street, San Francisco, California is home to Piper Halliwell, Phoebe Halliwell-Turner, and a Paige Matthews.” Sam gave the information, falling back into a role that felt as comfortable as an old jacket that had a few holes. “I have an obituary here for a Prue Halliwell.”

 

Cas leaned forward to look over Sam’s shoulder at the photo on screen. “Eldest Charmed One. There were ripples in the magical community after she fell.”

 

Dean quickly glanced at the two of them with a scowl. “’Fell’?”

 

Castiel looked back at Dean in confusion. “She fell in battle against a demon. Good nearly lost two of the Charmed Ones that day. In a way, they did.”

 

Sam was the one this time to look at Castiel, but his expression was confusion. “How do you know that if their ‘side’ never comes to yours?”

 

The angel looks at the road in front of him, filtering through emotions that for a long time he didn’t think he should feel. “I listened.”

 

“Come on, Cas.” Dean barks out, passing a car that was going too slow for him. “What does that even mean? If you want us to help these things…”

 

“People.” Sam corrects his brother, meeting Dean’s glare with a harden look himself. “I thought you would know that by now, Dean.”

 

Dean rubbed a hand over his face and kept his focus on the road. He looks older than he did mere moments before. “I get it Sam. We’ll do whatever we have to to get them to heal you.”

 

“No, Dean.” Sam’s look doesn’t soften, nor does he look from his brother’s profile. “We’re going to help because it’s the right thing to do. Who did you listen to, Cas?”

 

Castiel glances between the two brothers but doesn’t comment on the anger between them. “Different creatures that don’t care for the divide. I was…curious.”

 

“About what?” Sam asks, the hardness fading just a bit. “Does it have to do with why you wanted to help in the first place?”

 

The angel tenses up slightly and ignores the look Dean threw his way. “In a way.” He wasn’t going to volunteer anymore information except Sam kept looking at him expectantly. “White-lighters come from human souls. They retain choice.”

 

“As if angels don’t.” Dean mutters out, but Sam listens, soaking up the knowledge like a sponge.

 

Castiel looks at the older hunter before turning back to Sam. If he was reading correctly, that wasn’t enough for Sam. “It is…There are many stories of their bravery, cunning, and loyalty to their charges. Some have been willing to cross barriers that have frightened the ancients to cross. A few have made bargains. They’ve worked with creatures that they…”

 

The longer Cas talked, the more understanding the look on Sam’s face became. The younger hunter glanced to where Dean was looking partly at the angel in the back and caught his eye for a moment. “You.”

 

The angel closed his mouth and shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

 

“C’mon, Cas.” Dean’s voice lacked the vitriol that had been in his previous comments. If anything, his tone leaned towards fond. “You dragged me from hell.”

 

“Orders.”

 

“Gave up your Grace.”

 

“Necessity.”

 

“Fought with us.” Dean stopped there and shook his head in surprise. “And a lot more than that, man. You’ve had our backs even when it would’ve been easier to stab em’.”

 

Sam reached out a hand and did his best to pat Cas’s shoulder, even though the angel was in the backseat and he himself was in the front passenger. “You were describing yourself there, Castiel.”

 

Cas doesn’t respond, staring out the front window. He goes over the man’s words and sorts through the different meanings. The man, Chris, had strong blocks on his mind. “Find anything else about them?” Dean’s voice brings him back to the car.

 

“The eldest one, Piper Halliwell, owns a nightclub.” Sam answers, moving his phone around to show a picture of the place. P3. “Phoebe Halliwell has a few more articles about her. She’s an advice columnist.” He reads the titles quickly. “Seems to be pretty good.”

 

“Other one?” Dean asks, still not sounding like he enjoys this plan much better than he did before. At least he was coming.

 

Sam scrolled a bit more before shrugging. “Not much. Her name was mentioned earlier in an interview with Piper and in an article that investigated DA Cole Turner’s disappearance. He was suspected of murder and was married to Phoebe.”

 

“’Was’?” Dean’s voice hardened again, suspicious once more. “You sure they had nothing to do with it? Wouldn’t be the first time a wife made her husband disappear.”

 

“Ex-husband.” Sam corrected, pulling up an article that he’d glanced over earlier. “She has an article telling a reader that getting her divorce was hard, but freeing.”

 

“Right.” Dean said, not sounding any more convinced than he had before. “Hey, the white thing said something about ‘angel power’. How does that work?”

 

“White-lighter.” Castiel corrected at the same time as Sam. The angel nodded before adding more information than before. “Chris isn’t a white-lighter, Dean. A _witch_ -lighter. A Nephilim. He’s the product of a white-lighter being with his Charge. He shouldn’t exist.”

 

“ _Nephilim_?!” Sam spurted out, apparently having read something in one of his books to make his face go slightly pale.

 

“Yes.” Cas answered in a monotone. “A Nephilim from the future. The amount of power to travel through time… Only the foolish and desperate go to those lengths. They can completely change their time-line with just one action.”

 

There was silence in the car as they each thought back to their time-traveling adventures and the others that they’ve crossed paths with. One action, or inaction, caused ripples that changed things, sometimes for the better and other times for the worse.

 

Dean’s mind specifically goes to the future he went to that had Sam possessed by Lucifer. He was glad that future hadn’t happened. His future self-had been someone that he hadn’t recognized. Now he could understand the thinking, but still couldn’t bring himself to be that person.

 

Sam, on the other hand, went down the path of their grandfather. He’d wanted to go back to be with his family and to raise his son. If Henry Winchester had done that…where would they be at today? They had all decided not to have their present messed with, but if they had? Chris was taking a big risk of changing everything he knew to something different.

 

Cas, though, Cas was thinking of his angel brother Balthazar and how he went back to stop a boat from sinking so that a movie wouldn’t be made about it. Unseen consequences there.


	5. Chapter 5

The three eventually pulled up and parked across the street from a house built in another time. Lights were on in the building, but they had observed no one going in or out for the past hour. No screams. No yelling. If they had to make a guess, it was just another quiet night in a quiet neighborhood.

 

“Think we got the address wrong?” Dean broke the silence that was just starting to become awkward. They were heading to a meeting place that a stranger gave them the address to. Their dad would have had their heads for even thinking of going there. As it was? Well, their world was completely different from the world John Winchester left.

 

Sam looked back down at his phone with a frown. “1329 Prescott Street.” He glances back up at the old Victorian style manor. “That’s what Chris said.” His face went slightly pale for a moment before scrolling through his phone. “And the history of the house would make sense if the Charmed Ones lived there.” His face scrunched up a bit at the name that he’d been able to do a quick research into. Quick in that there was a burning woman that told the ‘prophecy’ in Salem hundreds of years ago that a member of the Men of Letters had mentioned but had written off as the ramblings of a mad woman.

 

“No!” A screaming female could just be heard from the Impala. The three didn’t bother looking at each other before yanking open the doors to take off running.

 

They are just outside of the front door when the same voice that screamed earlier could just be heard saying, “Chris, don’t.”

 

Dean is the one that sees the spots of light as he slams the door open. Sam is the one that looks at the two women and the man in robes being held to the wall by what looked like…spider webbing?

 

Castiel, the angel of the lord, is the one that looks at the three people before stopping his gaze on the robed man. He nods his head, his expression never changing. “Elder.”

 

At the sound of his voice, if anything, the Elder’s eyes widened even further and froze. The man lets out a breath, sounding more shocked than anything else. “Angel.”

 

“Hey, buddy.” One of the women, the long-hairesd one, snapped out. If her hands hadn’t been held to the wall, Dean would bet she would have cocked a hip and waved a hand to emphasize her point. “Mind putting down the gun and helping a lady out?”

 

“Paige…” The robed man, _Elder_ \- a voice in Dean’s head that sounded suspiciously like Sam corrected, hissed at the woman.

 

The shorter haired one rolled her eyes and gave a good yank at where one of her hands was stuck. “Look, Leo. I’m with Paige right now. I don’t care who, or _what,_ they are right now. We have to get out of this mess to save Piper and Chris.”

 

Dean gave a low chuckle and put his gun away. “I like them.” He glanced to see that Sam had already put away his own weapon and looking for something that could possibly help cut them down.

 

Castiel hadn’t moved from looking at the Elder. “You were once a White-Lighter.” Slowly he turned to the long-haired woman, Paige. “And you are like Chris. How is this possible?”

 

The Elder looked more scared than pretty much anything else. The woman, though? The woman huffed out a breath, sounding more annoyed than anything else. “Forbidden love. Yadda yadda. Our mom went with her White-Lighter. What kind of angel are you?”

 

“The Lord’s.” Castiel answered, moving only slightly so that Sam could get around to help the short-haired one whose name they hadn’t heard yet. “Elder?”

 

The Elder struggled for a moment, keeping a close eye on each hunter as they went to help the two women out. “Titans. I was, uh, promoted.”

 

“Even after betraying the rules.” Castiel gave the question as a statement as he went to help free the man from the webbing still keeping him to the walls. “What did this to you?”

 

“Spider demon.” The short-haired one answered, rubbing her wrists and giving Sam a pretty obvious once-over. “Thanks.”

 

“Welcome.” Sam ducked his head slightly, not blushing but not completely comfortable with the way she looked at him.

  
  
She held out her hand for him to shake. “Phoebe.” He took her hand and she looked at him expectantly when all she was met with was silence.

 

Sam glanced over at Dean instinctively for a signal before turning back with a bit of a frown. “Sam. Sam Winchester. Spider Demon?”

 

“More like our possessed nephew.” Paige calls out, ducking out from behind Dean to get close to her sister and ex-brother-in-law.

 

The Elder rubs the back on his neck and mumbles, “I can’t believe my kid tried to kill me.”

 

“Well, technically you can’t die.” Phoebe tells him with a gentle pat on the shoulder before turning back to the newcomers. Her earlier welcoming smile closing off just a bit to be darker and more of mask.

 

Paige puts her hands on her hips and looking between the two groups with an obvious look of calculating the odds. “Who are you guys?”

 

“ _What_ are you?” Phoebe asks, looking more suspicious than she had just moments ago. Paige looked at her with an expression similar to something that each of the boys had seen from the other before. The Elder, Leo, looked on guard and ready to bolt at any moment.

 

“I am Castiel, an Angel of the Lord.” Castiel answered, looking now more at the woman than the man at her side. “These are Sam and Dean Winchester, human hunters of Evil.” Dean looked over at the angel with a frown. Generally, they would just say ‘hunters of the supernatural’ if they ever ended up telling the truth. “We were sent by your White-Lighter Chris to help.”

 

“Phoebe?” Paige says the woman’s name as if asking for more information than could just be seen by their eyes.

 

Phoebe looks between the three of them, looking thoughtfully at each before moving on to the next one to be scrutinized. “They are telling the truth, at least as far as they believe. Leo?”

 

The Elder still looked on edge, but he did nod. “I have heard the name ‘Winchester’ before. Some good things, and some bad. Chris asked you to help?” He glanced at the Winchester brothers, but his focus was on the Angel in front of them.

 

“Yes, Elder.” Castiel answered, his voice staying in the monotone that it has been in since the three broke into the old house.

 

“Great.” Dean grumbled the word, his body language screaming readiness even with the slouch. “Now what?”

 

Phoebe glanced to Leo before looking back over to Paige. “Now, Paige is…”

 

“Going to see what I can get from the remains in the kitchen.” The woman finished, holding out her arms. “Book.” She ordered to the air before bright lights show up in her arms to form into an old book. A very old, very thick, book. “Hopefully we have the ingredients for more of the potion.”

 

“Don’t forget to look for an antidote.” Leo called to the woman who was already several steps away. “For…for Chris.”

 

Phoebe patted his arm. “We’ll get him back. He could still orb. Chris can be saved.”

 

“Um.” Sam voiced just loud enough to get back their attention. “How can we help?”

 

The Elder looks at Sam for a moment before something in him seems to loosen. “One of you can help Paige with the potions while Castiel comes with me to see if we can find anything left of the ancient wizard the Spider Demon had.”

 

“And one of you can help me figure out a way we are going to find, and defeat, a creature that requires the Power of Three.” Phoebe answers as well as she heads to the kitchen and comes back out with the book Paige had just brought in there moments before. “No Piper. No Blessing. No Power of Three. No Power of Three. No saving Piper or Chris. There has to be something else we can do to stop the Spider Demon.”

 

The Angel steps forwards, holding out a hand for the Elder. The Elder looks quizzically at the Angel before grabbing the hand. The two of them disappear in bright lights.

 

The two brothers look at each other. Dean heads into the kitchen where he can hear Paige mumbling about ‘stupid instructions’ and Sam follows Phoebe into the conservatory.

**Author's Note:**

> So...I had someone ask me for something where they cross paths a bit earlier. This may not have been the idea you had in mind, but it was an idea that I've been poking around for a while. Hope ya'll enjoy it. 
> 
> Also, before anyone asks, I did change the scene where the Supernatural conversation took place.


End file.
